Sorry for the long break in sending out genealogical news from the Hayes Center, but this will make this edition packed with new information that you can use. Read on .

2013 Classes Sponsored by RootsMagic 

All classes are held at the Hayes Presidential Center, 9:30- 11:30 a.m. Call 419.332.2081 to register.

$10.00 fee for each class ($5.00 for students through high school)
Pay the day of the class

Sept. 14  Saturday  Beginning Genealogy  Becky Hill, Head Librarian An overview of how to get started doing your family history, especially using the resources available at the Hayes Library.

Oct. 12  Saturday  Internet Genealogy I  Free genealogical websites - Becky Hill - Attendees will be learn how to utilize the free genealogical websites in their family history research. Such internet sources as the Center's OhioObituary Index, along with FamilySearch.org, USGenweb.org, Worldcat.org, Findagrave.com and other popular websiteswill be explored in depth

Nov.16  Saturday  Internet Genealogy II  Becky Hill - How to make the most of the paid subscription sites available at the Hayes Presidential Center  Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, Fold3; NewEnglandAncestors.org and Archives.com.

Ohio Obituary Index

The Index has been growing by leaps and bounds. We are up to 2.6 million names thanks to all the partner libraries staff and volunteers working hard to input data so that you can find more ancestors! Also we welcome several more libraries since the last newsletter, Akron-Summit County, Geauga County, Ashtabula County and Geneva, Loudonville, Guernsey County and Coshocton County Public Libraries bringing the number of libraries in the partnership to 60, shown in red in the attached map. Northern Ohio is looking better and better. Also the Ohio Genealogical Society joined and is inputting its scrapbooks of obituaries from the entire state of Ohio. It was fun meeting people from all over the state as we trained them to do the inputting. Ohio should be proud of its libraries staff and volunteers!

A repeat caution: When you find a reference to the Ohio Obituary Index on Ancestry.com or Archives.com, always be sure to click through and go to our site directly for the most complete information. Although these are great gateways to our data they are incomplete. Ancestry only displays 1.5 million names and we are now up to 2.6 million on our website. Also any corrections or additions to the original information given to them do not show up at this time.

We hope to give them a new update soon so that they will be more complete.

New feature

Not only do we have hundreds of thousands of more names in the Index but we have a new way of finding them thanks to our web programmer, Pete Sebert of WGTE. He has created another search mode  Search by library.

Here you can search for an ancestors name and just limit it to the data that the citys library has entered, such as Tiffin or Wayne County. Now you dont have to wade through all the John Millers across the whole state  just the part you want. I did a quick experiment and if you searched the whole Index for John Miller, you would get 908. If you search for John Miller from the Findlay Library you get 71. Of course, there are other ways to filter your search but this is the newest one.

The whole systems speed has been upgraded by WGTE so it should be working at a nice clip now and not get bogged down. Of course, we cant guarantee the speed of YOUR connection which is always a big factor.

Having trouble reading that document?

So many old documents and other objects are hard to read  too small, faded, etc. The Hayes Library now has a new device to help you zoom in on your problem. Thanks to former staff member, Merv Hall, we have a digital magnifier which can magnify small print VERY large. This photo shows Mary Lou Rendon, Hayes curator, looking at a tiny inscription on a hatchet owned by John Waggoner. The words and diagrams popped right out by using the magnifier. The device is easy to use  just ask us.

Are you on Facebook?

If so, you might want to look at the Hayes Centers Facebook page for the Grovefest held July 27th

Log into Facebook. Search for Grovefest - Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (you really only need to search for Grovefest one word and it will come up).

You can view pictures taken by some of the staff members, but if you came and have pictures we have given permission so you can also upload them to the site. Share your memories with us.

Come see us and friend us.

This page has nothing to do with genealogy but it does have some lovely shots of the Grove for those of you who havent been here.

Membership

Membership to the Hayes Center is still a great deal for genealogists. At the $45 or over level, you get the benefit of having unlimited at-home access to Newspaper Archives, along with HeritageQuestOnline and www.Archives.com. Thanks to an anonymous donor, we were able to offer unlimited in-house and remote access to this site:

NewspaperARCHIVE.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old - including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more  to fill in the life stories you are interested in. All of our historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable

All you need to do if you are a member, is log into the Hayes member page and NewspaperArchive will be one of your choices for at-home access.

One of our more recent regulars at the Hayes Library is Dustin Austin who is doing lots of research on his ancestors and also the people buried in Thompson Township, Seneca Countys Catholic Church cemetery. He asked us to try and order a book from Germany which covers many of this areas German families. It was a little challenging, but we did find it and now have it on hand  Familienbuch der Katholische Pfarrei Brucken/Pfalz 1690-1850 . Cant read German? This loosely translates to the Family Book of the Catholic Parish of Brucken in the Pfalz region of Germany. Some of the towns that it covers along with Brucken are Neumuhle, Ohmbach, Dittweiler and others. Since it is mostly a listing of names and dates the fact that it is in German is not much of an issue.